What is Pounds?
Pounds, acronym for Brazilian Sign Language, is the official language of the Brazilian deaf community.
It is a gestural-visual language, which is expressed through the combination of signs and facial expressions, the so-called non-manual expressions. The signs used replace the words of an oral-auditory language.
Organized into phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic levels, Libras is recognized by linguistics. Thus, Brazil has two official languages, Portuguese and Libras, which is the mother tongue of the deaf.
For all that, Libras is not a language. Like the Portuguese language, sign language is dynamic and has regionalisms, with differences according to the regions of the country where sign language is used. This further corroborates its language character, having been recognized as such in 2002.
Each country has its own sign language. In the United States, for example, it is called American Sign Language (ASL), American Sign Language, in Portuguese. In France, it is called French Sign Language (LSF), and it is even the language that gave rise to Libras.
According to data from the 2010 Census, according to the IBGE, 2.1 million Brazilians are deaf or have a hard time hearing, however the number of people who use Libras was not calculated.
The 2016 School Census, in turn, registered 21,987 deaf students in basic education.
Read too: language and language
Libras History: how and when it came about
The Brazilian Sign Language emerged from the French Sign Language.
In Brazil, the first school for the deaf began its activity on January 1, 1856, with the collaboration of the French teacher for the deaf, Eduard Huet, and with the support of D Pedro II.
Founded on September 26, 1857 and located in Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian school was called Collégio Nacional para Deaf Mudos. Today, it is called the National Institute for the Education of the Deaf (INES).
Huet began by teaching the deaf in Brazil using French Sign Language, but without ignoring the signs that were used, informally, by the deaf in our country. Thus, Libras emerged, which was taught at the Institute and transmitted by students in their cities, when they returned after graduation.
The struggle for the officialization of Libras as a language began in the 1980s, with the creation of a movement created by the deaf community. Finally after so many years - the bill for the legalization and regulation of LIBRAS dates back to 1993 - in 2002 the Brazilian Sign Language is recognized as a language through Law No. 10.436 of April 24, 2002.
In 2005, it is the turn of Decree No. 5.626, of December 22, 2005 to regulate the legislation, providing for the inclusion of Libras as curriculum subject, teaching the Portuguese language to the deaf community as a second language, training bilingual professionals, among others.
Numbers in Pound Signs (0-9)
Alphabet in Pounds Signs
